Sasuke's Journey
by TheOtherDude
Summary: Sasuke Uchiha leaves the Leaf in order for him to atone for his sins, and see the world with his own eyes. All the while, he protects the shinobi world's peace from those who try and disrupt it.
1. Chapter 1: Sasuke's Journey

**Author's Note: Just know that I will try to stay as true as I can to the characters and the way they would handle certain situations. I will not use any Japanese terms in place of English ones like "thank you", "sorry", or "thanks for the food!". It confuses some people. I will not use Japanese suffixes like "sama" or "kun" and "chan".**

 **The story will go all the way into Sasuke Shinden. I will go by the anime since not everyone is as well accustomed to the novel as others. Though, I will use some instances that I prefer. I also draw every character on my DeviantArt for better visual.**

 **For Imposter Naruto, use this URL: art/Sasuke-and-Imposter-Naruto-675163051**

 **Thank you and enjoy.**

 **Chapter 1: Sasuke's Journey**

"Well, I'll be honest with you," Kakashi began, "under normal circumstances, you'd be imprisoned for life. The only reason you've been pardoned is because of your involvement in undoing the Infinite Tsukuyomi. Try not to forget, however, that all of this is thanks to Naruto as the war hero, and me, as the 6th Hokage. So, take it easy and don't go crazy on me again…It'll be on me if you do."

Sasuke looked onto Kakashi with a certain amount of remorse, yet you could barely see it, "yeah, sorry."

"You're leaving already?" Sakura asked, "Lady Tsuande is just about to complete your prosthetic arm from Lord Hashirama's cells…" "I..." Sasuke interrupted, "I need to see it for myself. I need to see how the shinobi world looks from my own eyes. I need to see all the things I have overlooked. I have a feeling that I would be able to see them better now, and if I miss this chance, I don't fully believe another will come…plus, there are a few things that have been bothering me."

Sakura looked at Sasuke then glanced down with a flushed look plastered upon her face, "What if..." she hesitated, "if I told you…that…I would like to, um, come, too?" she peeks up nervously participating his answer. "This is my journey to atone for my sins. You have nothing to do with my sins." Sakura slumps her head down hard in disappointment mumbling "Nothing to do…you say". She lifts her head up to find Sasuke moving towards her, 'I'll see you soon," he says poking her forehead affectionately. "Thank you".

Sakura can only look onto Sasuke as he walks away from the gates, though she is happy that he seems to reciprocate her feelings positively. As Sasuke walks down the long dirt road, he notices Naruto to his left, leaning alongside one of the many trees. "Huh," Sasuke started, "I didn't think you would come". Naruto returns his statement with determined eyes and a smile, **'again with those eyes…** '.

 **'You fought to stop me…to the point that you lost your own arm. All because you were my friend. Naruto, you saved me.'** Naruto pulls out a scratched headband and stretched his hand out to Sasuke's. **'I have noticed that these feelings of mine aren't just about us, I am sure it's the same for everyone else.'** "You kept that old thing?" **'But, there aren't a lot of people like you. Things won't always go as planned, just look at us…it's especially true when it comes to bigger things.'** "Here, I am returning this." Sasuke begins to reach out for it with a response, "I'll keep this until our real battle." **'I believe it's like praying, and until I can do it, I will stay strong, we are the beings that have been entrusted with the world's hope. That's what makes us Shinobi.'**

Attaching the headband to his hip, Sasuke sets off on his journey leaving his friends behind, this time on a good note. This time, with no regrets to hold him down.

After walking down the road for a few hours taking in his surrounding, Sasuke thinks that to start his journey, he should begin by visiting the Five Great Nations. 'I will start with a detour to the Land of Waves before I travel towards the Hidden Sand. It wouldn't hurt to visit the nation I had my first true battle, I didn't quite get to admire the city when I picked up Zabuza's Kubikiribōchō

.'

By nightfall, Sasuke had arrived at the edge of Tanzaku Quarters, opting to stay in a hotel for the night and start the second day of his journey in the morning. He heard all the joyous laughing and screaming of crowds while walking through the gates. 'I guess I won't be able to find a quite hotel to sleep in.' he thought as he walked through the rambunctious crowds. Soon enough, he found a hotel he thought to be decent and decided he should check into it for the night. While doing so, he bumps into a man who then fell to the floor while he was trying to making his way out.

While still on the floor he starts screaming out, "God damn it, why don't you watch where you're going, ya purple-eyed fre-freak!" Sasuke looks down at the man feeling his appearance his somewhat familiar. He nonetheless offers his hand, but the man slaps his hand and stands up on his own allowing him to get a better look at the angry man. He wears dark brown eyes and curly dark blonde hair along with a plain dark orange shirt and dark pants along with regular blue sandals and a blank headband. Obviously, he's not too fond of bright colors. Though oddly enough, it reminds him of Naruto, he even had one scratch on each cheek. Before he walks past the angry blonde, he begins to yell in his face, "Don't you know who I am!? How dare you be so rude!" Making a grumpy face, he sighs "at least you were kind enough to offer your hand, but still, you should know when to say excuse me! Now your actions have drawn a crowd, you idiot!" It is in that moment that Sasuke does notice that a crowd has formed behind him around the entrance, though, they seem quite scared and peeved.

"I am sorry", Sasuke says, "but you are just as in the wrong as I am." A few people behind him starting freaking out, one man brown headed man with brown clothing taps on his shoulder gaining enough of his attention to turn his head, "Psst! Sir! You must be more respectful! That man is the war hero, Naruto Uzumaki! You mustn't be so rude! You must bow!". Sasuke couldn't help but chuckle as he saw the smirk residing on the face of 'Naruto".

'Naruto' didn't react too well to the chuckle, "Gah! How dare you think this is even mildly funny! You wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for me, ya know!" ''Ya know?', must be coincidence' Sasuke thought with mild amusement. The crowd behind him began getting louder and bigger, all hampering on about how grateful Sasuke should be.

"You're not Naruto" said Sasuke. The crowd silenced at such a bogus statement. 'Naruto' began to yell out at Sasuke, a bit flustered by such a statement, "I am!"

"No, you're not." He continued

"And who the hell do you think you are, punk! Would you like me to show you my awesome power!" he says cockily, knowing that the mere statement of Naruto's power is revered through the land. The land also knew that, all cheering with screams of "Yes, Lord Naruto!", "Show him how to be resepectful!", and "Don't rough him up too much, Lord Naruto". Again, silence was disturbed through the crowd when Sasuke agreed to fight him.

"Come and show me, I am interested in how far you can back this up." 'Naruto' was a bit taken aback, he never had to actually go through with a challenge. 'No matter', 'Naruto' thought, 'I did fight in the war, I am a shinobi, a former Chunin at that! What are the chances this guy is a ninja, he doesn't even have a headband. He is a bandit at the most.' He began to walk past Sasuke and into the road with a crowd giving them room with Sasuke behind him.

"I'll even be so generous as to offer you the first move!" 'Naruto' exclaimed resulting an eruption of cheers of support. "No need. I don't want this to end too fast." Said Sasuke resulting in boos and an angry opponent, "Ugh! Fine! But you asked for it!" he responded.

'Naruto' spread his legs and got into position lifting his arms up to begin weaving signs. He has a serious look on his face, 'I need to keep up my image here, so I will use my most powerful jutsu!' Sasuke just stood his ground in mild curiosity wondering what he could do. He obviously understands how to use chakra.

'Naruto' weaves his signs while taking a deep breath, 'Wind Style: Vacuum Sphere!' exhaling several small blasts of wind chakra in such a manner that they are dispersed over an expansive range endangering the surrounding crowd. Sasuke acts quickly and spreads Susanoo's arms to cover everyone in harm's way, and using the ribs to cover himself form the attack. 'This is a jutsu Danzo used. It takes quite a bit of chakra.'

'Naruto' looked on in amazement at such a display of power 'he..nobody was hurt, he, who is this guy!? That took more than half of my chakra, damn it!' He then ran towards Sasuke while whipping a kunai out his pouch, but before he could slice Sasuke's throat, Sasuke activated his Sharingan to knock him out and fall to the floor.

"Agh!" he grunted while on his way the ground, leaving the crowd flabbergasted. How could the strongest man lose so easily? Completely oblivious to the fact that he didn't care if he injured them in the battle. "That was impressive, a jutsu such as that could cause a lot of damage to your opponents and the shinobi around them, and you also weren't completely knocked out by my genjutsu, but you endangered civilians who wouldn't be able to help themselves." He continues a bit louder so the people can hear him "you are not Naruto Uzumaki and I won't have you tarnishing his name in such a place." Sasuke then began to walk away to a different part of the town, as he was not comfortable in that area anymore.

The imposter began to struggle sitting up, but he did get there, albeit breathing heavily, "Who…the hell are you!?" he yelled out as Sasuke walked away. He stopped, turning around to humor them, seeing everyone's anticipation in the question as well. "Sasuke Uchiha." He replied as he turned back around to walk away all the while everyone freaked out at such a famous name. The imposter was speechless and just fell back down holding his head 'I challenged THE Sasuke Uchiha! No wonder he was so confident in my appearance AND in battle!'

After walking away for a few minutes, everything went back to the regular screams and joyous laughing. He found a hotel, checked in and entered his room. As he did so, he noticed it was, well, crappy. The walls had multiple cracks in it, the bed was hard and uncomfortable, the blanket was too thin, there was no pillow. The bathroom had a sink and a bathtub full of mildew. Sasuke took his cloak and sandals off and sighed, "You get what you paid for". He laid himself down and fell into a light slumber.


	2. Chapter 2: The Land of Waves

Chapter 2: The Land of Waves

 **Author's Note: The next few chapters will be a bit faster. Due to midterm exams, I had no time to get this one out.**

 **URL for Sekkoku:** 1c7c/i/2017/111/3/3/sekkoku_hakku_by_

 **Honestly, I was very lazy on the drawing…**

 **Thank you.**

 **Enjoy.**

At 7 o'clock on the dot, Sasuke opened his eyes. It was an internal clock he had since he was young. He laid there for a good five minutes enjoying the quietness of the room. He was somewhat glad to know that all of Tanzaku Quarters would be asleep right about now. 'Oh well', he thought getting up. 'Time to leave'. Sasuke left the room as he slid his sandals and wrapped his cloak around himself.

He left the hotel noticing the streets were quiet, even though people were still active. Sasuke walked the half hour out of town enjoying the slight silence. Soon enough, he decided he must make haste and run. He jumped up on a tree hopping branch to branch in the direction of the Waves.

The Uchiha went a whole day uninterrupted, trapped inside of his thoughts as he made his way, but soon enough, Sasuke arrived at the edge of the Great Naruto Bridge. Reminiscent of his previous trip to receive Zabuza's Kubikiribōchō, he glanced up at the huge sign staring down at him and gave a soft smile in response to his fond memories of Team 7's first real battle. Sasuke began walking down the long bridge passing by numerous merchants. Soon enough, it began to rain on down hard.

He began to sprint over to the small town in anticipation of dry housing until…

"Oh shit" he grunted out, stopping abruptly with the rain still pouring heavily. While he was looking down to the ground, he began to silently curse to himself, 'I used all of my money on that hotel…'. It's not like he could just earn money as he was in prison for the better part of the year.

While walking around in the heavy rain, it began to grow darker in the land. In this small town, nothing terrible happens all too often. The only setback being they are easy targets for mercenary groups. So, it was quite suspicious to see a man wearing a dark cloak, with a face showing no emotion, walking alone in the middle of town. In heavy rain. In complete darkness. It didn't take long for people to begin peaking around their windows and doors scared that someone will try and take advantage of their town.

Suddenly, a door swung open, with a heavy-set man throwing a large pitchfork straight for Sasuke's back. Sasuke did a slight sidestep and caught the pitchfork right in the middle of its long handle, swinging himself to face the large man with the pitchfork held up in a defensive position expecting a fight. But, the large man began running in the opposite direction of Sasuke in panic. He decided not to pursue him, thinking that in hindsight, he did look a bit suspicious. His defensive reaction probably didn't help much.

Everyone looking onto their mysterious man began to silently freak out. Deciding to defuse the situation, not wanting to fight in every town he visits, he began to speak up, "I am not going to hurt you, I am just a traveler visiting this land– "

An old gruff voice interrupted him, "We have already given you what you wanted, so why don't you leave!"

'They sure have a habit of getting your attention from behind', he thought to himself while turning around to see a familiar face.

An old man, around 60, appeared behind him wearing a large dark green raincoat with a straw-hat on his head. He has large beard and small glasses on his face as well. "Tazuna", Sasuke recognized him almost immediately, 'he hasn't changed at all.' A young teenager right behind him with long brown hair and the same raincoat was holding up a torch. Sasuke recognized him as the young boy Naruto had inspired, Inari. 'He has gotten a bit older'.

Tazuna seemed surprised. Did he recognize Sasu-

"Well!? Did you not hear me!?"

'Apparently not.'

Inari seemed surprised himself, "Grandpa!" But, Tazuna continued, "Don't just stand there, ya super deadweight! Answer me!"

Inari tried once again, "Grandpa!" and before Sasuke could even reply, he ignored them both, "You super dense dipshit!" "Grandpa!" Tazuna turned his head towards Inari, "What, Inari!? I am super busy right now!" Inari began again to get louder, "Grandpa, don't you recognize who that is!?"

Tazuna looked back towards the mysterious man with a puzzled look on his face, "Eh? What do you mean?" He leaned forward and adjusted his classes, "No? Who is this?"

Inari gave an aspirated sigh in response. Sasuke decided to speak up before he started yelling again, "I am Sasuke Uchiha, I was here a few years ago, to guard you while you were finishing your bridge."

Tazuna began to smile and walked up to Sasuke, "Well, why didn't you just say so! It's been a while, and you're not too recognizable in the dark with long hair and that super dark cloak!"

He put his hands on his hip when he got in front of Sasuke, "I'll be damned! It is you!" Tazuna began to explain to everyone that he knew the mysterious figure and he was no threat to them giving them a sense of relief and let them go back in and relax in their homes.

Inari ran over to Sasuke, "You should come to our house and get out of this rain!"

"That's right!" Tazuna cut in, "You'll catch a cold! You can stay with us until this rain calms down!"

"Thank you", Sasuke responded.

They began to walk back towards Tazuna's house, with Inari deciding to catch up with Sasuke, "So, Sasuke, we heard about you and Naruto being a hero of the war! How was that!? You guys must be super strong!"

'It seems Inari is picking up Tazuna's verbal tic…'

Tazuna cut back in before Sasuke decided an answer, "Inari! You shouldn't ask a man about his experience of war!", Inari recoiled, apologizing profusely to Sasuke.

'It's fine" he replied.

They arrived at the house with Tazuna entering the house taking his sandals off and yelling for his daughter with Inari and Sasuke in tow, "Tsunami! Come and prepare us some food! We have company tonight!"

You could hear Tsunami responding from the other room, "Guests? Who is it?"

"Sasuke!" Inari yelled back.

Surprised, Tsunami walks in the room with a pleasant smile on her face wearing a long-sleeved green shirt and dark blue pants., "That's great! It has been so long, is Naruto and Sakura with you as well?" Tazuna and Inari were both also curious about that.

"No," Sasuke answered, "I'm traveling alone".

Although they were a bit disappointed, they were fine with seeing at least one of them.

"That makes sense, you were traveling alone when we went to help with Konoha's reconstruction!" Tazuna reasoned.

This caught Sasuke by surprise, no one told them he had gone rogue? He was also an international criminal around that time as well. Do they really not get caught up in current events here?

"Yes, that is right" Sasuke answered.

As Tazuna and Inari took off their raincoats, Tsunami ran over to Sasuke with a towel and began yanking his coat off, "Please, Sasuke, let me get this to dry, you are soaked! I don't want you to get sick!" Sasuke obliged and allowed her to take his cloak and even started to dry his head with the towel. This allowed the family to notice that Sasuke was missing his arm. No one said a word as to not be rude, but they couldn't help but think of how he lost his arm, hoping it wasn't too painful.

Soon enough, they were all sitting down at a small table eating fresh soup made by Tsunami.

They were all relatively silent, aside from small talk about their day. The small family remembered Sasuke as being a silent boy, so it was reasonable to believe he would grow into a silent man, as well. Though, they have noticed that he is even more silent than even before. They didn't really know how to talk to him, but to their surprise, Sasuke spoke up first.

"Tazuna."

Tazuna looked over at Sasuke in curiosity. "When you yelled at me, you told me I had already gotten what I wanted, what did you mean by that?"

"Oh, that? Don't worry about that, Sasuke, it is all said and done now".

Inari would only look down as Tazuna spoke, Sasuke noticed this. Instead of prying Tazuna, he decided he would get the information out of Inari later tonight when everyone fell asleep.

Sasuke looked back over his bowl of soup and didn't press the subject, to Tazuna's relief. Tsunami decided to change the subject, "Sasuke, I hope you don't mind me asking but what is wrong with your eye? It's all purple with multiple pupils!"

Sasuke silently looked over to Tsunami to explain: "this is the Rinnegan, a special dōjutsu. It is the most powerful eye in the world right now."

Inari leaned up in the table to get a closer look, "that is sooo cool!"

"What are you traveling alone for, Sasuke? Are you on a mission of any sort" Tazuna asked, honestly curious.

Sasuke picked the bowl up to drink the rest of the soup before he would answer, after putting it down, Sasuke looked over to Tazuna, "it's not a mission. I set a journey for myself to discover my own truth of the shinobi world. I wish to see the world and come to my own conclusions about it." Tazuna looked a bit shocked, but then he recomposed himself and laughed out loud, patting Sasuke on the back. "What a deep young man! I definitely didn't expect such a super answer!"

Tazuna stood up and set the laughter aside, "well, I think it is time for bed, guys! Sasuke, please welcome yourself to shack up with Inari! I am sure he won't mind!"

"Thank you, I'll leave in the morning", he said, 'that makes this easier for me.'

"Do you have to leave so early, Sasuke?" Inari questioned, sad that he never gets to spend so much time with the people he admired. "Yes."

"I will be heading to bed as well," she began to get up smiling down at Sasuke. "Sasuke, please be careful on your journey, I hope you find what you're looking for. Inari, please help Sasuke find your room."

"Okaay!" Inari said as he began to walk upstairs for sleep as well. Sasuke got up and followed suit. Inari entered the small room and pulled an extra cot out and put in the middle of the room for Sasuke, "here ya go!" Sasuke sat on the cot, thanking Inari while doing so, setting his sword right beside him.

Although Inari wished to talk to Sasuke some more, he didn't quite know how to get his attention and go through with it, after a few minutes, he just decided to sleep, content with knowing that his heroes are still alive and well.

It took a few hours before Sasuke was convinced everyone in the house was asleep, but when he was fully convinced, he swiftly moved over to Inari thinking to himself how creepy this all is. 'How unlike me, but this is a step towards atoning for my sins.'

Slowly, Sasuke reached towards Inari's eyelids, opening them slightly to get a good look inside of his memories:

 _A group of angry townsmen were rounded up at the entrance of the Great Naruto Bridge in the darkness of the night, with a determined Inari and Tazuna on the frontlines._

 _Standing in front of them was a middle-aged man with light bbrown hair in an open dark red jacket exposing his tucked in shit, along with brown pants ending at his knees, where his black boots begin. Around him were a group of mercenaries, obviously, all rogue shinobi._

 _The middle-aged man gave away a stoic expression towards the townsmen: "have you decided to take me up on my demands, Tazuna?"_

 _Gritting his teeth, Tazuna knew he was forced to give in to his demands in order to protect this town and its beautiful people. Fighting back against these men would cost them their livelihoods, "Fine, Sekkoku, you will get your damn funds. Just leave us alone!"_

 _Inari broke from behind his grandfather in a fit of fiery rage, 'Naruto did not teach us to sit back and take this crap!', Inari pulled a knife out of his pocket and charged for the man, but before he knew it, on of Sekkoku's goonies had ran before him, raising his kick to the child's jaw, setting Inari back a few feet with a pool of blood to follow._

" _Inari!", Tazuna yelled, running up to his grandson, scared of what was to happen next._

 _Sekkoku just chuckled with a large smirk forming on his face, "don't worry, old man. Since you're giving me what I want, I have no reason to demolish your reckless child for his actions. I'm much too nice, I know."_

 _One of the fellow townsmen walked up to Tazuna. Sasuke recognized him as the man who threw the pitchfork at him earlier in the night, the rough man handed Tazuna the large sack. The old man walked over to Sekkoku, who met him half way, and gave him the sack, "now, please" Tazuna grudged out, "leave us in…piece."_

 _And with that, the gang went on their way, with a mercenary turning around to yell back at them, "we'll be back if we must!"_

 _Inari struck back up, composing himself in anger and tears, "Just what the hell do you want with this, anyway!? Our money won't be of any use to you! We are just one town! What do you think you can do!"_

 _Sudden laughter emerged from the leader of the band, "Guahahaha! Do you think we're stupid!? We didn't just pool money from your poor asses, we took from other lands as well!" He began to count on his fingers, "the Land of Tea, the Land of Waves, and even in the Land of Water! We need to make sure we can fund our mission, so threatening poor nations such as this not only gives us the necessary funds, but also guarantees you can't afford the Five Great Nation's help!"_

 _Everyone just looked on in shock, with Tazuna even believing he couldn't even afford a mission they the built the bridge with. "Wh…Why would you do this?" one of the townsmen asked, albeit reluctantly._

 _Sekkoku just looked forward, with a stale face, "we will disrupt this world. We will get war brewing again, but first things first," he looked back at the townsmen with a sadistic smile stretched upon his face, "we must assassinate the Hokage!"._

Sasuke pulled his face back from Inari's, satisfied with what he had learned, 'I see, I must alert Kakashi and throw this down before he gets any real support from considerable shinobi.' He left Inari's room, quietly heading down stairs to leave only to see Tazuna waiting for him.

Tazuna looked up at Sasuke, with a worried expression across his face,"Inari told you, didn't he?"

He received silence, "I understand," Tazuna started, "I know you are a powerful man, but this is more than with Gatoh. He has an ambition far greater a threat than his."

"No."

Sasuke walked up to Tazuna, staring at him straight in the eye, "not only can I shut this down before it reaches an actual threat, but Kakashi wouldn't die by simple men. I will retrieve your stolen ryo." He walked past Tazuna sliding his sandals on, "Thank you", Tazuna said silently, "again, we are in your debt…"

"Please lend me my cloak." He went for Sasuke's cloak, grabbing it off the table, "It's still soaked, Sasuke…", "It is fine, it'll dry later." Sasuke wrapped the cloak back around him, relieved the inside was still dry, before Sasuke left house, he noticed it was still raining, he stood still in the middle of the door frame, and left Tazuna with his departure.

"You have no debt. You could not help the situation in its current form. Naruto had once preached for Inari and the other villagers to stand up for themselves, but sometimes you must swallow your own pride and sacrifice your traditional heroism to keep your loved ones protected. Those men would have destroyed your town if you fought back, and you understood that. They were not like the mercenaries from those years ago, it is fine to rely on others, Tazuna. You did what any sensible man would have done."

Before Tazuna could look up to Sasuke, he had left.


	3. Chapter 3: A Hawk with No Reason

**Author;s note: I for some reason wanted to draw Jūgo, and Sakura, and Naruto, you know what? Whatever.**

 **Some are better than others...**

 **URL for Jūgo:** **34ac/i/2017/112/0/1/jugo_colored_by_**

 **URL for (lazily drawn) Naruto (reminds you he is still wearing different clothes):** **4979/i/2017/114/d/4/eh_naruto_by_**

 **URL for Sakura: b4a9/i/2017/114/b/1/sakura_haruno_by_**

 **URL for Kakashi: d36e/i/2017/114/7/f/kakashi_eh_by_**

 **Thank you.**

 **Enjoy.**

Chapter 3: A Hawk with No Reason

There have been times when a summoning is entirely inconvenienced. They must react with precise precision for them to handle the surrounding situation at hand. There are times when a summoning is forced to save the summoner and its own self from falling to their deaths in a deep abyss. There are times when they must take on a tailed beast with no warning whatsoever, but the thing is, they adapt. They always adapt. Not without cursing their summoner, of course, but the adaption proceeds.

Sasuke didn't necessarily inconvenience his hawk summoning, but boy was he pissed. It was pouring down cold ass rain, and it was even storming, with lightning showing itself every minute. The lightning already screws them over, and now here's this cocky Uchiha making him wait in the pouring rain while he writes his damn note. That's right, this boy summoned his hawk before he even wrote the damn note. He must wait for a man to write a note in the dark night full of heavy rain!? How is – oh, he's done. Okay.

Sasuke reached over and tied his small note to the (pissed) hawk's leg, "take this to the Hokage, quickly."

The hawk doesn't even get a break, does he? He stays, staring silently into the face of his summoner. "Go," he demands, and the hawk flies away into the dark skies, still pissed.

"That bird was not too pleased with you, Sasuke." Said person turned his head to glance at the figure standing behind him. "Was he? I couldn't tell," he responded uninterestingly, turning his body towards the familiar voice. "What are you doing here, Jūgo?"

Jūgo reached into his coat, pulling a scroll, and stretching it out for Sasuke to grab ahold of. "Lord Orochimaru sent me on a retrieval mission." He grabbed the scroll and read the contents:

 _The Land of Waves, the Land of Tea, the Hidden Grass Village, and the Land of Whirlpools._

 _Sekkoku Hakku has been spotted in these four nations, find him. He has information I am interested in._

"What a coincidence, Jūgo, it seems we have a common goal." Sasuke said, "though I doubt this is really a coincidence."

Jūgo looked questionably at the young man across from him, "what do you mean?" Sasuke placed the scroll in his cloak, and began walking away from the Land of Waves. "Nothing, Jūgo, but I will accompany you on your mission," as he said that, the large man caught up to Sasuke, pleased with what he was hearing, "Orochimaru named four places Sekkoku's location might be, so I am assuming Suigetsu is headed for one of the other three places." Jūgo looked over to Sasuke surprised, "Do you think Lord Orochimaru knew you would be after this man?" He nodded his head in confirmation, "he has no given reason to get Sekkoku in his possession, so he is either withholding information from you or he is attempting to gain my attention, knowing I would soon find out about these plans one way or another."

"I see," he replied, "but the Land of Waves was one of the four places Sekkoku was spotted, the animals even confirmed he was here recently."

"No, he is gone." Sasuke looked up to the larger man, "so where is Suigetsu?"

"He was sent to the Land of Tea, he will send me a message if he finds anything."

"In that case, we will head to Orochimaru, where is he?" Jūgo was very confused, "There are still two more nations to cover, Sasuke, why are we going to see him?"

"You told me he left the Waves recently, the other suspected locations are far away, too far to have traveled there in such a short amount of time." He explained, "and Orochimaru has my attention. Either he knows more information, or he wanted my attention. I'm simply curious."

"Lord Orochimaru is residing on the border of the Land of Earth and the Hidden Waterfalls, shall I escort you?"

Sasuke ran up the tree hopping and the branches and taking a sharp left in the direction of the Land of Earth, with Jūgo taking his spot directly behind him. He didn't think that his journey to atone for his sins would end up involving a perfect manifestation of sin. Although, that is where it all started, so in a way, it makes perfect sense.

* * *

The Hokage's office was a mess. The previous Hokage left so many papers unattended to, it has Kakashi Hatake going crazy. He has stacks of papers all over his desk, covering every inch of that desk that is not in the Hokage's direct line of sight. He has stacks of papers all over the floors, so tall, they're half way to the ceiling. For the last twenty minutes, the white-haired man has been cradling his head with his elbows holding himself from falling face first into the desk.

Shikamaru Nara, the Hokage's leading advisor, was in front of him, looking down sympathetically, almost feeling bad enough to help him sort all this out. Almost. He had things to do too, you know?

"Uhh, don't you think you should be working some more, Lord Hokage?" Shikamaru questioned while scratching his head. "You have a lot of papers to finish." Kakashi slammed his head woefully on his desk mumbling incoherently. Shikamaru thought that he could see tears pooling around where his head lay.

He lifted his head up to stare at the shinobi uncomfortably looking at him, "is there anything you want, Shikamaru?" he asked while running his hand through his hair.

"Well, Naruto requests to come see you, and I wouldn't let him unless you were ready for it," he looked away from the Hokage," I wouldn't want you to get less work done today than usual." Kakashi stared at him, happy to have such a thoughtful advisor, "That's very kind of you, Shikamaru, but you know just as well as I do that no matter what is said, Naruto will barge in here. Loudly." Shikamaru closed his eyes and sighed, silently agreeing with him.

As if on cue, an orange blur hopped through the window, sending papers flying everywhere, which sent Kakashi in a frenzy to retrieve them, "NARUTO! Why would you – no! I need that," he screamed trying to retrieve all the papers flying out of the window, but before he could give up from the task, Sakura hopped on right outside the windows with all the papers in her arms.

Kakashi quickly grabbed them and planted them on his desk, "thank you, Sakura," he exclaimed sincerely as she smiled in acknowledgement. He then glared over onto Naruto, who sheepishly recoiled back, raising his hands up in defense, "I'm sorry, Kakashi-sensei! I just wanted to see you is all! I, uh, I think I am ready for a new mission!" he finished his defense with a wink and thumbs up. He sighed, giving in, "I'm sure I could find something for you, something long enough to keep you out of my papers until the pile is smaller."

He glanced over to Sakura, knowing she must be here for a different reason, "You're always with Naruto, but I doubt you want me to send you off for a few months." Naruto didn't catch the 'months' part, but agreed anyway, "yeah, yeah!" he blurted out, "she's just nervous about Sasuke being gone so long, ya know? She's been following me around all day she really misses the bastard!" before he knew it, Sakura punched him in the stomach so hard, Shikamaru barely had time to step away from the impact of Naruto being thrown behind him. "Shut up, you idiot! Don't treat a girl's feelings so causally!" she snarled out, breathing heavily with a heavy blush spread across her face. "So, it's true?" Kakashi interjected. The pinkette just looked down in response. "Ah." He replied.

All of a sudden, a small hawk flew on the edge of the window, throwing papers all around in its reaction, again sending Kakashi in a never-ending frenzy, running all over to catch the important material, "Why does this keep happening!? What is this hawk doing here!?"

Shikamaru stepped over to the hawk in observation, "It isn't one of ours, perhaps it's a foreign nation's?" he tried to grab the note tied to its leg, but the hawk flew up to attack Shikamaru, sinking his claws onto his head before flying across the room, "GAH! What the HELL is this thing's problem!?"

The Hokage had to, again, catch all the papers from flying around, "I don't know, but I don't like it," he looked menacingly at the bird, perpetuating a certain level of disdain for the newly arrived hawk. The hawk didn't take too kindly to that reaction, so he just glared back at him, showing as much emotion a hawk can, but he did understand this was the Hokage…

Kakashi sofly walked over to grab the hawk, which then went crazy, attacking the man, not giving a damn about his rank. He pecked his head, which made Kakashi let go of his attempt to grab him so he could protect his head, which was now bleeding.

He fell to the ground while the hawk flew back over to the edge of the window, daring them to try again. Kakashi breathed heavily, staring at the hawk with wide eyes, "You didn't want me!? This isn't fair, you can't just attack people like that!" he screamed out. Shikamaru had already decided that he wanted no hand in this. This was NOT his problem. Sakura just stood there, laughing awkwardly at the interaction with the bird.

Naruto stood in front of him, putting his hands solemnly on his hips, "Don't you worry Kakashi-sensei, I'll handle this," he looked onto the bird in determination. The hawk noticed his battle-ready intent. The hawk spread his wings, and cawed as loud as he could, resulting in everyone having to cover their ears from the pain. Naruto stepped back, uncovering his ears, and raising his fist at the hawk, "That's it! I'll teach you not to mess with me, ya know!" he jumped over to the window, trying to grab the bird, but the bird flew above him, resulting in Naruto flying halfway out the window. The Hawk flew all over the room throwing the paper everywhere, to Kakashi's irritation.

Everyone was throwing their arms up, trying to cover themselves from the paper and the wind coming from the hawk, but the hawk decided to softly perch itself onto Sakura's arm.

The papers all fell down, but it was better than flying. Kakashi was frustrated. The hawk wasn't he was pleased, and he liked Sakura, which annoyed Naruto.

"Why aren't you attacking her!" He yelled, to which Shikamaru agreed, wanting to know, too. Kakashi was just happy the hawk was standing still,

Sakura smiled at the hawk, taking her other hand to pet the hawk's back. She giggled, amused by the favoritism he was showing. He leaned in towards Sakura's cheek, rubbing his beak against her. "Awee, this is so cute!" she gushed out, "he likes me! Can I have you!?" she asked, in actual seriousness. The hawk in response, shook his head in a no and lifted his leg with the note attached. She grabbed it and unfolded the paper, reading who it was for, "Oh! Kakashi-sensei, it's for you, here!"

Kakashi shuddered and decided to stay put, opting not to go near the devil in the form of a hawk. The blonde shinobi understood his decision, "Just read it out, please." The Hokage stated.

So, she did, "A man by the name of Sekkoku Hakku has threatened and stolen from the funds of the small nation residing in the Land of Waves. I'm not aware of how much he stole, but it was great enough to harm their economic stability. I request an immediate reimbursement, please accept. He plans to hire powerful shinobi in order to successfully assassinate the Sixth Hokage, I will begin an independent investigation and end this before it begins, but be wary. Sasuke."

The room was shocked that Sasuke sent them a not at all, much less so early. They were more shocked by how serious he is for his self-set mission. "Well," Kakashi began, setting one hand on his hip "at least we know he wasn't kidding about 'atoning for [his] sins." He smiled at his statement, happy Sasuke is walking the correct path. Although Sakura was proud of Sasuke's change of heart, she was actually amused by the irony of his hawk showing so much affectionate to her, and only her. 'If only this was a representation of Sasuke's feelings for me.' She thought to herself. Naruto just punched his fists in the air, "Yeah! This is a mission for Team Seven, guys!" Shikamaru whipped his head towards Naruto, "Say what, Naruto?! He said he will act independently, he doesn't need you to proclaim a mission for yourself!"

"Wha…What do you mean!? Obviously, this is, uh, Sasuke asking for help…ya know!" Naruto stammered out, looking for an excuse to not only get a mission, but a mission to see his friend, even though it hasn't been too long since he's seen him. Sakura was too nervous to speak out against Naruto, because she secretly wanted this to happen, if it gives her a chance to see Sasuke again so soon.

"Actually," Kakashi waved off, getting everyone's attention, "go ahead and take the scroll, you two. This can be your mission: support Sasuke's mission to rid us of our threat to peace…or whatever." Naruto cheered before he was able to finish, "Yeah, thanks so much, Kakashi-sensei!" he ran out the door, grabbing Sakura's arm pulling her with him, "wha…Naruto!" she gasped out, "Let's go!" he yelled down while running down the hall, as soon as Kakashi knew they were gone, he sighed deeply, holding his head with hand, "I guess this will let me get my paperwork done," he said as he picked up the papers the demonic hawk flung on the ground with his excessive flying.

Shikamaru interrupted that, "Eh, excuse me, Lord Hokage, but you and I know well enough that Sasuke could and will handle this, why did you set this up as a mission?" he asked. Kakashi just chuckled awkwardly and rubbed the back of his head, "well, I'll admit, I needed something to hold Naruto off while I finish all this, and what better mission than to basically chase after Sasuke?" he said, mumbling the next part while walking to his desk, "that seems to be his favorite activity…"


End file.
